Acoustical panel



United States Patent M 3,027,;65 ACOUSTECAL PANEL William A. Jack, Hampton, NJ assignor to Johns-Manville Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 23, 1957, Ser. No. 764,825 15 Claims. (Cl. 181-33) This invention relates to decorative acoustical panels; more particularly, it relates to a method of cutting fissured patterns in very soft, loose textured blankets of acoustical materials, to a method of fabricating novel acoustical panels using these fissured blankets, and to the novel panels produced thereby.

Heretofore, it has been known to utilize sand blasting or other forms of abradin means to fissure a design into an acoustical board through a template having the desired fissured pattern perforated therein. Utilizing such a procedure, an attractive and eficient acoustical product is produced which has a plurality of rather deep, irregular fissures therein. When such a procedure is attempted to be used with acoustical blankets of the same thickness but of a very loose texture and of a very light weight, the final product resembles somewhat the product previously produced by said procedure. However, in view of the loose texture of these very light weight acoustical blankets, the abrading sand, peach stone particles, steel shot, or walnut shell particles are embedded in the side walls of the fissures and are diflicult to remove. The abrading material left behind after the fissuring of the panels, consequently, adulterates the fissured panels and detracts from its esthetic appearance.

An object of this invention therefore is to utilize very light and very loose textured acoustical material in a novel manner, i.e., by producing an acoustical panel of such materials with a fissured appearance.

An additional object of this invention is to produce fissured acoustical panels utilizing inexpensive acoustical materials and to obtain results which, heretofore, have only been obtained with the more expensive and dense form of acoustical materials.

Still a further object of this invention is to utilize certain classes of acoustical materials in a manner never used before to produce a novel type of acoustcal panel which, heretofore, this class of materials was not thought capable of producing.

Another object of this invention is a novel method of fabricating a fissured type, acoustical panel from light weight and loose textured acoustical materials.

In brief, the invention resides in fissuring a pattern into a relatively very thin, loose textured blanket of acoustical material comprising, e.g., a felt of mineral, synthetic or vegetable fibers by the use of a template placedupon the blanket, and cementing this fissured blanket on a base panel, which may or may not be of acoustical construction, to produce the final acoustical product.

These and other objects will be readily apparent from the above brief description and from an examination of the following more detailed description and appended drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an acoustical panel formed according to the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the panel of FIG. 1 along line 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view, similar to FIG. 2, of a second form of the instant invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a third form of the instant invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the form of the in- 3,027,965 Patented Apr. 3, 1962 vention shown in FIG. 4, along line 5--5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a pictorial view, partly in cross section, of apparatus utilized in making an acoustical product of the instant invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the novel acoustical product of the present invention comprises a relatively very thin layer or veneer 1 of acoustical material having fissured completely therethrough a plurality of irregular fissures 2 in an irregular pattern. The layer 1 is composed of very soft and very loose textured acoustical material of approximately /2 thickness and having a density of approximately 1 pound per cu. ft.; other lightweight, loose-textured acoustical materials, may of course, be substituted for the particular material recited. The veneer 1 is cemented, or otherwise secured or plied, to a base or backing 4 consisting of an imperforatc panel; the final product resembles somewhat any unitary panel, made from the much denser acoustical materials, fissured only partially therethrough.

A modification of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a plurality of such soft acoustical materials cemented, or otherwise secured together, with fissures 12 in layer or veneer 11 mating with corresponding fissures 16 in layer or veneer 15 (FIG. 3), i.e., a plurality of similar blankets, identically fissured, are mated together with the group of fissures on one panel aligned with the corresponding group on the other panels. This plied construction is further cemented or glued to a base member 14 to produce a fissured acoustical panel somewhat similar to that illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The use of at least a pair of similarly fissured blankets, mated together, is to produce an acoustical panel having relatively deep fissures therein, which gives the appearance of great depth to each of the aligned fissures 12, 16 thereby producing a marked shadow effect.

The form of the invention shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is somewhat akin to that illustrated in FIG. 3. However, the blanket 35 of FIGS. 4 and 5 has fissured therethrough a pattern different from the pattern in blanket 31 so that the fissures are only partially superposed, or in register, or blanket 35 may have the identical pattern of layer 31 abraded therein, in which case the two layers are displaced slightly from each other to present a con struction wherein the plurality of fissures 32 in blanket 31 are at least partly out of registry with the fissures 36 of blanket 35 and are arranged in an irregular manner with respect thereto, so that there is an irregular overlap or superposition of fissures 32 upon fissures 36, giving thereby an added esthe'tic eifect. As in the construction of FIG. 3, backing 34 is adhered to the veneer 35 which in turn is adhered to the veneer 31 to produce the finished panel.

The apparatus illustrated in FIG. 6 comprise a metal template 5 having cutouts 6 therein of the desired shape to be fissured through the blankets, and such cavity outlines are cut through the adjacent panel 1 by an abrading blast 8, composed of a mixture of compressed air and an abrasive, originating from a blasting nozzle 7. The abrading may also be performed by particles centrifugally flung from a spinning wheel (not shown). When the abrading operation has been performed the acoustical panel has cut therein, through its entire thickness, a plurality of fissures 2. To give the loose textured and very light weight fibers more body or rigidity, the panel 1 of FIG. 2, the panels 11, 15 of FIG. 3, and the panels 31, 35 of FIG. 5 may be provided with a backing of paper 3 (shown only in FIG. 2) by cementing the layer of paper 3 on the rear face of each of the panels prior to fissuring. This paper backing 3 may be retained in the assembling of each of the modifications as it is well hidden from view and has cut therethrough the same fissured design as the adjacent veneer panels, the fissures being cut through the paper backing by the abrading process described above.

The materials used for the veneer construction may be of light weight mineral wool, light weight glass wool, glass fiber textile scrap, synthetic or vegetable fiber, or of other light weight fibrous material having a thickness of approximately /2" and a density of approximately 1 p.c.f.

The backing material, as for example the backing 4 in FIG. 2, may be of relatively inexpensive fiber board or board manufactured from the commonly known mineral wools, or it may be manufactured from any known material not having appreciable sound absorbing qualities. The type of backing material used depends upon the acoustical requirements, and the amount or thickness of such backing naturally depends upon the type of construction utilized. Thus, if the construction of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 were used, a somewhat thinner layer of backing would be adhered to the veneer than the thickness of backing layer as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

A preferred form of acoustical panel, made according to my invention, has the backing 4 of FIGS. 1 and 2, for example, composed of light Weight and very loose textured material of the same construction and composition as used for the veneer 1. This combination produces a panel having a clean fissured appearance similar to that obtained with acoustical materials of much greater density. In this construction also, the relatively inexpensive form of acoustical materials is used throughout thereby utilizing a very light and loose textured acoustical material in a manner not contemplated before.

If desired the veneer may be painted or treated with some other form of covering. This does not decrease the acoustical properties to any great extent while it does improve the esthetic values somewhat as a particular room design or color may be selected in accordance with personal tastes.

Having thus described my invention in rather full detail, it will be understood that these details need not be strictly adhered to and that various changes and modifications may suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, all falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the subjoined claims.

What I claim is:

1. A method for fabricating an acoustical product comprising, placing a template having irregular apertures therein over a relatively thin layer of loose textured acoustical blanket having a density of approximately one pound per cubic foot, abrading through the template apertures and completely through the blanket, and plying the blanket to an imperforate base panel.

2. The method of claim 1, further including securing a second blanket, made in a similar manner as the first blanket, in plied relation to the first blanket, and securing together the plied construction and the base panel.

3. The method of claim 2, further including the step of aligning the fissures in the first blanket at least in part with the corresponding fissures in the second blanket in the plying of said blankets, to obtain thereby a deep fissure etfect.

4. In a method for fabricating an acoustical, fissuredtype panel, the steps of abrading a plurality of fissures completely through a relatively thin layer of light weight acoustical material through a template having the desired pattern cut out therein, and plying the thin layer to a second, imperforate layer of acoustical material.

5. A method for fabricating an acoustical product comprising, securing a paper covering to a relatively thin layer of loose textured acoustical blanket, placing a template having irregular apertures therein over the paper and blanket, abrading through the template apertures and completely through said paper and blanket, and plying the combined paper and blanket to an imperforate base panel.

6. A method for fabricating an acoustical product comprising, placing a template having irregular apertures therein over at least one layer of relatively thin, loose textured, acoustical blanket, abrading through the template apertures, and completely through the at least one layer, and plying at least one such blanket layer to an imperforate base panel.

7. An acoustical panel comprising, an imperforate base panel, an acoustical veneer of loose textured fibers plied thereto, said veneer having a plurality of irregular fissures therein completely through said veneer.

8. The panel or" claim 7, wherein said veneer comprises a plurality of similar blankets having identical fissures therethrough and in at least partial registry with each other.

9 In an acoustical panel construction comprising, an imperforate base panel, a plurality of loose textured, acoustical panels of similar dimensions as the base panel secured to the base panel and to each other, each of said loose textured. acoustical panels having a plurality of irregular fissures therethrough.

10. The panel construction of claim 9 wherein the fissures in each loose textured panel are similar to the fissures in a mating loose textured panel, and identical fissures are superposed in registry upon each other to thereby obtain a deep shadow effect.

11. In an acoustical panel construction, an imperforate base panel, an acoustical veneer secured thereto composed of a material having loose textured fibers and having a very low density, said veneer having a plurality of irregular shaped and irregularly spaced fissures therein.

12. The panel construction of claim 11, wherein the veneer construction is backed by a layer of paper to impart greater strength to the veneer construction. I

13. The panel construction of claim 11, wherein the veneer includes a plurality of blankets, each blanket having a plurality of irregularly shaped and irregularly spaced fissures therein.

14. The panel construction of claim 13 wherein the fissures in each blanket are superposed upon and registered with identical fissures in the adjacent blanket.

15. The panel construction of claim 13, wherein the fissures in one of the blankets of one panel are displaced from the fissures of an adjacent blanket of the same panel, so as to be only partly aligned therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,554,180 Trader Sept. 15, 1925 1,751,249 Rosenblatt Mar. 18, 1930 1,833,143 Weiss Nov. 24, 1931 1,951,983 Kellett Mar. 20, 1934 2,089,492 Lambert Aug. 10, 1937 2,096,233 Ericson Oct. 19, 1937 2,455,926 Gessler et a1. Dec. 14, 1948 2,562,711 Gessler et al. July 31, 1951 2,645,301 De Vries July 14, 1953 2,785,099 Holtsford Mar. 12, 1957 2,791,289 Proudfoot May 7, 1957 2,825,420 Heine Mar. 4, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 158,961 Australia Sept. 21, 1954 

